Artist Spotlight: Nicola Bennett
Originally from the UK, Nicola Bennett is based in the South Island of New Zealand. She draws inspiration from chefs and local farms to create paintings that celebrate the sensory intricacies of cooking with everyday ingredients. Nicola's formal training includes a BFA from Leeds in the UK and an MFA from Whitecliffe College of Arts and Design.
We spoke with Nicola recently about the relationship between food and art, her favorite color, and painting intuitively. We hope you enjoy the conversation.
Please tell us a little about yourself. How did you get your start as an artist?
School was challenging for me because of dyslexia, but art felt like the one thing that came easily. An amazing art teacher lit the way. I went on to complete both a Bachelors and Masters in Fine Art, but it wasn't until my early 40s that I became a full time painter.
A key experience at the beginning of my artist journey was a group exhibition with some art friends. We had to make work as our alter egos. I chose to be a confident abstract painter as my alter ego character and all the paintings I made sold. So, I thought why not be that 'confident abstract painter' until I was confident enough to be myself. I dedicated myself to learning everything I could about painting and being an artist entrepreneur. It took several years and I made a lot of bad paintings. But now I sell my work all over the world, have gallery representation, and I am that confident (for the most part) abstract painter.
How are R&F Pigment Sticks® an important part of your painting practice?
R&F Pigment Sticks® are essential through the different stages of my layering process. In the beginning I use them to do continual blind drawing from the shape of food ingredients. Then I paint into those sections. When I'm nearing the end of a painting I find that drawing with the Pigment Sticks® can bring the whole painting together. Going back in with gestural lines often reestablishes the energy in a painting. I also find those lines connect the shapes that were perhaps unrelated to each other.
Pigment Sticks® are totally unique, I've not found any other oil stick that works in the way. They're essential to the results I can achieve in a painting. My style is all about translucent layers, with depth and a kind of edible seductive richness of color. I couldn't achieve this without R&F Pigment Sticks®.
Can you speak to the roles of addition and subtraction in your work? What about intuition?
Each painting has several layers and I like the viewer to see a little bit of those layers in the final work. I do more addition than subtraction. Now and again I might take paint off if a painting really isn't working. But normally it's all about building layers of color and 'flavor.'
“My style is all about translucent layers, with depth and a kind of edible seductive richness of color. I couldn't achieve this without R&F Pigment Sticks®.”
Drawing is a big part of my work. I've built a vocabulary of marks that relate to the onomatopoeia words of cooking. I wanted to know what the sound of sizzling looked like as mark. That's why I love R&F Pigment Sticks® so much; they blur the line between drawing and painting. I leave some marks as clear lines and others I smooth, scrape, or brush into translucent painterly areas.
My intuition has developed over time. But the knowledge behind the intuition has been built up from my own learning through discovery and play, as well as learning from other artists. The artist John Boker once said to respond to your intuition the moment it tells you to do something. Don't wait for your thinking mind to question or override your next painting moves. That's probably the best advice I've ever had, as I trust and rely on my intuition with everything I do. That's where the magic lies.
Can you tell us a little bit about your art dinners?
There are lots of crossovers between cooking and painting for me. They're both sensory experiences that bring pleasure when shared. They both have this magical draw of transformation. Whether that's ingredients transformed into a delicious meal to share or paints and a canvas transformed into a painting.
I haven't done any art dinners for a while but in the past I've collaborated with chefs and had exhibitions in restaurants. The chef and I both respond to particular ingredients, often setting each other creative challenges and then talking with guests about our response to particular ingredients. I've also done private dinners for a dozen people, where I set up an exhibition in a collector’s home and cook a three course meal with the ingredients that inspired the paintings. I love that flavor can be experienced in a multi-sensory way - the eyes can see what the mouth feels.
I'm passionate about quality ingredients and often connect with food grower. So the quality of R&F Pigment Sticks® sits well with my values. They are rich and buttery, evoking a sensory response while I paint.
Do you have a favorite color?
One of the colors I keep returning to is Sap Green, which translates beautifully matched with a cooler or warmer palette. It's the most 'foodie' green I can find. I'm also in love with Alizarin Orange, which is rich and seductively translucent. I use Unbleached Titanium to knock an area back or add some opaque areas in contrast to the translucent areas of a painting.
What's a typical studio day like for you? What keeps you motivated?
A typical studio day starts mid morning after I've been swimming and walked my dog. Coffee and a glance through a cookbook normally gets me fired up to start working. I don't wait for inspiration as such; I just start working, responding to what's already there. I work on up to 10 paintings at a time so there's always a painting calling for my attention.
What is the role of scale in your work? Have you always worked large?
My work seems to be getting larger every year, as I gain confidence I want to take on bigger challenges. I'm currently working on my biggest project yet - a 169” x 83” work that I'll send to the states. I've done a few 118” x 47” paintings, which I mostly send overseas.
I also enjoy the challenge of working smaller and have thirty cookbook sized works on the go. I find the smaller works remind me of working with ingredients on my kitchen top, it's more of an intimate experience, whereas the larger works require more of a bodily approach. I can make expressive gestural marks with my whole body. When I'm standing close to my larger works, I feel like they take on an almost bodily presence. They contain more of me and more of the personality of the ingredient I'm trying to express.
Do you teach painting? If so, how long have you been teaching?
I've taught many children and adults over the years. But for the past 8 years I've solely developed my own art practice. Now I'm ready to share what I've learnt, so I'm creating an online drawing and painting course that will be launched in 2025.
What are you currently working on in the studio? Is there a specific goal that you have for your work?
I'm currently working on a large painting inspired by pears, pistachios, and chocolate meringue. I normally work with the seasons. For example, every spring I do a series of works on asparagus. This year I had the pleasure of picking local wild asparagus so for weeks I was foraging, cooking, drawing, and painting with a total love of asparagus.
The goal I set myself is to fall in love with this ingredient, as if I'm experiencing it for the first time. To do this, I search for new and exciting recipes that wow me, creating an intensity of feeling I want to carry through to a painting. Last year it was a Johnny Collins recipe with seaweed and asparagus. This year it was an Ottolenghi recipe with roasted asparagus, brown butter, burnt lemon, and labneh. I created several paintings from the sensory pleasure. Over the years I've gotten more involved by visiting the growers of the ingredients. Then I have the growers’ passion combined with my own passion. This year I've visited nut farms, saffron growers, oyster mushroom farms, and apricot orchards.
My goal is to keep growing as a painter, to make richer work. To develop deeper connections to seasonal ingredients and the people that grow them. I'd like to do more chef collaborations and perhaps a kind of cookbook celebrating color and flavor.
To learn more about Nicola’s work, visit nicolabennett.co.nz.